casinoin Marcos honors Ople at cancer facility groundbreaking
Updated:2024-12-11 03:18 Views:73
MANILAcasinoin, Philippines — President Marcos yesterday paid tribute to the late migrant workers secretary Susan Ople as he led the groundbreaking of the Bagong Pilipinas Cancer Care Center at the Overseas Filipino Workers’ Hospital in San Fernando, Pampanga.
Marcos said the construction of the Bagong Pilipinas Cancer Care Center was inspired by the vision of Ople, who dedicated her life to working for the rights of migrant workers.
“Till the day she died, she was still working for our OFWs,” Marcos said in his speech. “That is why we have to honor her memory and her legacy, and we do so today with this hospital. Her legacy reminds us to approach every patient with compassion and care, assuring them that they are not alone in their fight.”
Ople died of breast cancer in August 2023. She was the country’s first secretary of the Department of Migrant Workers, which was constituted in January last year.
The construction of the facility will start in January and is expected to be completed by November 2025.
The hospital is targeted to become operational in the first quarter of 2026, after securing necessary permits and licenses from the Department of Health.
The new cancer care center is expected to accommodate 64 patients and will provide various treatment modalities, including chemotherapy, diagnostics and staging services, and surgical oncology.
From January to May this year, the Philippine Statistics Authority ranked cancer as the second leading cause of death in the country.
Marcos said the entire second floor of the facility would be dedicated to the Bagong Pilipinas Cancer Care Center.
At presentcasinoin, the country has two cancer centers: the UP-PGH Cancer Center in Manila and the Philippine Cancer Center in Quezon City.